Josef Lammerz was born in Bonn in 1930, and started his studies in piano and organ at a very early age. He was given special tutoring by Hubert Brings, who was then the organist of the Bonn Münster (the basilica). He studied sacred music at the Robert-Schumann-Konservatorium in Düsseldorf. He later completed his studies in composition by taking individual classes with Rudolf Petzold in Cologne, and studied organ with Clemens Ingenhoven.
From 1956 to 1975 he was organist and director of the choir of the Christ-König church in Duisburg. Here he created a prestigious choir, which had extensive concert commitments, for which the most important choral repertoire was performed, as well as his own compositions. He participated in the municipal concerts with the Duisburg Symphony Orchestra at the Mercator-Halle, with works such as Fauré's Requiem, Verdi's Stabat mater, and Liszt's Christus.
Josef Lammerz (*Bonn, 1930)
Composer, Director and Organist.
At present, he lives in Teulada (Alicante).
From 1961 to 1975 he was professor of piano and organ at the Duisburg Municipal Music School (Niederrheinische Musikschule), and of music theory at the Folkwang-Hochschule für Musik, Institut Duisburg. From 1975 to 1989, he was organist and director of the Münster-Basilika choir in Bonn.
Josef Lammerz has been living in Teulada (Alicante), on the Costa Blanca, since 1989. In this region he has premiered some of his most important compositions (masses, cantatas, psalms).
He has been made an ‘honoured citizen’ of Teulada. In Xàtiva, natal city of the Borja popes (Calixto III and Alexander VI, in the 14th and 15th century), there is a street named after him.
